Changeable controller for electric signs.



View? S. HELDL CHANGEABLE CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC SIGNS. .IPPLICATIONFILED SEPT-25,. 1914.

1,188,359. Pameuunem 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I- "Hlnul "HIHIIH, 'M UHI HIIH I' "Ill HI, "Hi l I S.HE'LD. CHANGEABLE CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC SIGNS.-

,HPLICATION FILED SEPT-25, 1914. r

1,188,359. Patented June 20,1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Till ill

S. 'HELD CHAN GEABLE CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC SIGNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-25, I914.

Patented June 20, 1916.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3- s. HELD. CHANGEABLE CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC SIGNS.

I 9PPLICATION FILED SEPT-25.19M-

1,188,359. v I PatentedJuneZO, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

f' fifa 1 ED ST PATENT o v SIEGFRIED HELD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,ASSIGNOB O F ONE-HALF T0 ADOLPH G. KAESTNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CHANGEABLE CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC SIGNS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 25, 1914. Serial No. 863,448.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIE'GFRIED HELD, a subj ect of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, residing at the city of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Changeable Controllers for Electric Signs,-

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in a changeable controllingmechanism or apparatus for electric signs, and while it is moreparticularly intended for use in connection with that type ofelectrically illuminated signs in which the lamps composing the sign inthe form of letters or other figures or designs, are lighted andextinguished automatically, progressively or at predetermined periods,and are commonly known as flash signs or sign writers, yet it will beunderstood that it may be used in connection with any kind of sign ordevice to which it is applicable.

' In the above mentioned type of electric signs, to which the inventionis more particularly applicable, as above stated, the sign or displayboard comprising a field studded with electric light bulbs or lamps isusually mounted in an elevated position, such as on an upright structureor the roof, or Wall of a building, and the contact board and control-'ling mechanism electrically connected to the display-board are locatedat a considerable distance therefrom and usually within the basement orroom of a building. Besides, it has heretofore generally been necessaryto have two wires leading from each lamp in order to include them in thecircuit.

Some of the objects of the present invention are to provide a changeablecontroller for electric signs, which shall be simple in construction andoperation, with its parts so made and arranged, that the display matteron the display or sign-board can be easily and quickly changed and thelighting effect regulated at the location of the contactboard, withoutthe necessity of disconnecting or rearranging the wiring at thedisplay-board: to economize in the use of lamp wires or conductors andthe expense incident to attaching the same to the lamps; to providemeans whereby the letters or other figures or signs may be built up orproduced and displayed on the display-field, step by step, orprogressively (by preference from right to left), until the completesign is repeatedly showing the same sign or a plurality of signs on thedisplay-boards at pre-,

determined intervals.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosedin the subjoined description and explanation.

The invention consists in certain peculiarities'of the construction,novel combination, arrangement and operation of the various partsthereof as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specificallyclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate the invention,Figure l is aview in side elevation of the controller, embodying oneform of the invention, illustrating a sufiicient number only of theyielding brushes mounted on the carrier therefor to enable a properunderstanding of the operation of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a face viewthereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional View taken on line 33 of Fig.1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 4 is afragmental plan view of a portion of the carrier for the yieldingbrushes, illustrating a number of said brushes mounted thereon; Fig. 5is a cross scctionalview and its supporting casing, showing the brush inits extended or operative position: Fig. 7 is a similar viewillustrating the brush in its retracted or inoperative position; Fig. 8is a view in side elevation of a modified form of the controller; Fig. 9is a vertical sectional view taken on line 9 9 of Fig. 8, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows; and Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view ofthe wiring system common to the constructions shown in Figs. 1 and 8,but illustrating it in connection with the first named form.

Like numerals of reference refer to corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views of the drawings.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive of the drawings, the referencenumeral 15 .designates the side members of the main or supporting frame,which members are substantially rectangular in shape and. by preferencemade ofmetal. These side pieces are located in upright positions inparallelism with one another at suitable distances apart, and may besuitably secured at their '15 desired positions, in the upper portion ofthe I lower ends to the floor or a base of any de- 'contaet-board of thecontroller.

the upper surface of the board or' platform 19', so that their uppersurfaces will be about flush with the insulating material 20, as isclearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. To firmly hold thecontacts 19 in the board or insulation 20, said board or insulation' isprovided with a series of transversely disposed dove-tailed grooves 21,to receive the correspondingly shaped contacts 19,

. which are spaced from one another and ar ranged in transverse rows aswell as rows extending longitudinally with the upper Tao portion of thesupporting frame. The trans verse rows may have as many of the contacts19 as desired, and the longitudinal rows may be composed of any numberof said con tacts. The openings 17 extended through the board orplatform 16 are so located as to register with the lower surfaces of thecontacts 19 to which surfaces are secured in any suitable manner wiresor conductors 18, which are grouped or formed into a cable 22, whichleads to the sign or display-board 23 (see Fig. 10), which sign ordisplayboard it has been deemed unnecessary to show in any of the otherfigures of the drawings.

Transversely and horizontally journaled on the sides 15 of thesupporting frame and at each end thereof are a number of shafts 24, oneach of which is mounted near each of its ends a sprocket wheel 25 forengagement with and for conveying an endless carrier, which isdesignated as a whole by the reference numeral 26, and consists of apair of chains 27, located in parallelism with one another, one at theinner surface of one of the sides15, and the other at the inner surfaceof the otherside piece 15 of the main frame. The chains 27 are unitedtransversely by means of metal bars 28, which form a part of the carrierand each of which has at each of its ends a stub shaft 29 (see Fig. 5),extendedv .-laterally into suitable openings in the adjacent ends of thelinks 30, which compose each of the chains.

As shown in Fig. 4, each of the links 30 is provided at one of its endswith prongs 31, between which the adjacent end of the other link isextended. Each of the prongs 31 adjacent to the bars 28 is provided witha. recess 32 to receive pins 33, one of which pro ects laterally andoutwardly from the annular flange 34, with which each of the stub shafts29 is provided near each of its ends. By this arrangement it is evidentthat the bars 28 will be held with their faces in substantialparallelism with the'chains of the carrier, and that as the chains ofthe carrier pass around the sprocket Wheels of the main frame the barswill be prevented from tilting, but slightly. Horizontally journaled onsuitable brackets 35, at the lower portions of'the sides 15 of the mainframe is a driving shaft 36, on which is mounted near each of its endsdriving sprocket wheels 25 with which the carrier chains engage. Thedriving shaft 36 is geared to a motor 37 in any suitable manner, but inthe present instance. by means of a belt 38 connecting the motor to apulley 39 on said driving shaft. Extended upwardly from 1e upperhorizontal portign of the sides 15 and near each end thereof is abracket 40, each of which has an' inwardly extended arm 41 projectedinwardly over the upper surface of the insulation 20. These arms areunited in pairs on each side of the main frame by means of a metal guiderail 42, which rails are extended longitudinally with respect to theupper portion of the main frame and are for the purpose of supportingthe bars 28 as they travel from one end of the main frame to the otherand over the contact-board. Extended upwardly from each of the brackets40 is a bolt 43 on each of which is loosely mounted an inwardly extendedarm 44, which arms are united in pairs at one side of the main frame bymeans of a metal rail 45, which rail-s are located in parallelism withthe rails 42 and above the same at a sulficient distance to permit thebars 28 of the carrier passing between the same with slight friction.Surrounding each of the rodsor bolts 43 is a coiled spring 46, each ofwhich rests at one of its ends against one of the arms 44 and at itsother end against a nut 47 with which each of the bolts 43 is provided,and by means of which the tension of the springs .46 may be regulated soas to give the desired pressure of the rails 45] against the bars 28, inorder to prevent them vibrating or wabbling in their passage over aboutits middle with an inwardly extended annular head 50, and at its upperend witha pair of opposed bayonet jointed slots 51 for the operation ofa retaining pin 52 extended transversely in opposite directions from thestem of a movable brush 54:, one of 'which is located in each of thecasings 48,

and projects through the .screw threaded portion 49 thereof. Each of thebrushes 54: has on its upper end a, head 55 against which the lower endof a spring 56 coiled around each of the stems 53 rests, the other endof said spring resting against the lower surface of the annular bead 50,with which each of the casings is provided. Each of the stems 53 is bypreference screw threaded into the head 55 of the brush 54 and has onits upper end a milled knob 57, by means of which the stem 53 can bescrewed into 01' out of its brush so as to increase or diminish thetension of the spring 56, and

also by means of which the brush may be retracted from the positionshown in F ig;

6 to that shown in Fig. 7, and held in the latter position by turningthe stem 53 so that the pin 52 will rest on the horizontal portions ofthe slot 51 in the brush casing, or, if desired, the stem 53 may beturned in the opposite direction, when it is obvious that the pin 52will be permitted to pass into the vertical portions of the slot 51, and

thus allow the brush to assume the position the cable 22 composed of thewires 18,

which, as before stated. are connected at one of their ends to thecontacts 19, and are extended in the form of a cable from the frame ofthe cont-roller to the sign-board 23, where they are connected to theelectric light bulbs or lamps, which are indicated by the referencenumeral 61, and are of the ordinary or well-known construction, but havetheir sockets screwed into suitable openings in the metallic sign-board23, which board will act as one of the electric conductors of thecircuit, and has leading therefrom a conductor 62'which is connected toone member 63 of a switch, which member has interposed between it andthe battery or source of electric supply 64, a fuse 65. of the ordinaryconstruction and in the well-known wa'y. Leading from the other member66 of the switch, which is also similarly connected to the source ofelectric supply. by means of a fuse 65, is a-conductoi 67, which isconnected by means of a binding post 68 to the supporting frame samegeneral principle of making and breaking the contacts and of employing astation ary contact-board and a movable brush carrier disclosed in Figs.1 to 3 inclusive and above described, is involved, but in themodification an endless carrier 26 in the form of metallic frame 70,which shaft has mounted thereon, near one of its ends, a gear 71, whichmeshes with a pinion 72, mounted on a shaft 73, which is journaled onthe frame 70, near-or below the shaft 69. The shaft 73 has mountedthereon a worm gear 74, which is driven by a worm 75 operated by a motor76, of any desired kind. While the above mentioned means for drivingtheshaft 69 and rotating the carrier 26 thereon will be found convenientand may be employed, yet it is obvious that other means for 7 drivingsaid shaft may be employed without departing from the spirit of theinvention. Mounted on a bracket 77, which is sup ported by the frame 7 0is a block 78, through which the shaft 69 is extended. Projectedupwardly on each side of the block 78 is an arm 79, which support attheir upper ends the ends of the segmental contact-board 20, which is-by preference constructed of bars I 16 and 20 of insulating materialand substantially in the same manner as the bars 16 and 20 of thecontact-board shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings and previouslydescribed. The insulation board -or strip 20 of the contact-board 20 isprovided with contacts 19 of the same construction and arrangement asthose in the first named construction, except that the latter contactsare arranged in a curved line corresponding with the curvature of theoverhanging part 27 of the wheel or carrier. Leading from each of thecontacts 19 is a strand of wire,

which strands are formed into a cable 18, and this same arrangement iscarried out .in the wiring of the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to3 inclusive. The cables 18 of the modified form like those of the firstde y scribed construction are merged into acable 22. which leads to thesign or display-board 23 (see Fig. 10), and the strands of the wires 18are connected to the electric light bulbs 61 of the display-field. Thebrushes 54'a-nd casings 48 therefor carried by the wheeler carrier areof the same construction and are manipulated in the same manner as thoseof the'first named construction.

From the foregoing it will be understood that in the modifiedconstruction, as well as in the first described one, the contactboa-rdis held stationary and may be of any desired size for the convenience ofthe operthereon, when, of course, the springs controlling the brusheswill force the latter against said row of contacts, thus lighting all ofthe lamps composing the first or right hand row of the sign-board. Thiswill form the first bar ofthe letter fl-I. All of the brushes of thenext row, except the one at about the middle thereof are retracted totheir inoperative positions, as shown in Fig. 7, when, of course, onlyone of the brushes and contacts of said second row will be in contact,and as the carrier travels in the di rection indicated by the arrows,the first transverse row of brushes will be moved to the secondtransverse row of contacts on the contact-board, thus lighting all ofthe lamps on said second row, and leaving all of the lamps in the firsttransverse row of the sign-board extinguished, with the exception of-thelamp at about the middle ofsaidrow, which single lamp will form thecross bar uniting two upright bars of the letter H the last bar of saidletter being formed in the same manner as the first one and just abovedescribed. The letter E is produced in a similar manner to theforegoing, except that the two last rows of the lamps used for formingthe letter IE will have a pair of the lamps illuminated at each end ofsaid rows and a pair at the middle thereof.

It is believed that the above explanation is suflicient to enable anyone skilled in the art to understand how to manipl llate the brushes inorder to produce the desired let'- ters or other figures or designs onthe signboard.

In Fig; 10 the diagrammatic view shows the sign-board 23 with-enoughlamps thereon to display the word HELD, but, of course, it will beunderstood that a greater or less number of lamps may be employed, or,in other words, that the display field may be studded with as many lampsand in proper relation to one another as to display the desired sign ordesign. In said figureof the drawings, the lamps ('11, which are shownshaded are supposed to be illuminut-ed, while those unshadcd aresupposed to be extinguished, and the wiring leading 1,1es,see

from the lamps\to the contacts of the contact-board, and from the latterto the carrier, are indicated as being in or out of contact by means ofthe arrow-heads displayed on the contact-board. That is, where thearrow-heads are shown as being in contact with the contacts 19 on saidboard, the lamps 61 are indicated as being illuminated, while thearrow-heads which are out of contact with said contacts indicate thatthe lamps to which they are connected are extinguished. i

It is evident that various details of the construction may be modifiedwithout departing from the principles of the invention, inasmuch as Ihave shown but the simplest of several embodiments of my invention. I,therefore, do not purpose limiting this application for patent otherwisethan necessitated by the prior art. For instance, while sprocket andchain transmission for one form of the carrier is shown, and geartransmission for the other form of carrier is disclosed, it is obviousthat any other form of transmission could be substituted.

llaving thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desireto seizure by Letters Patent iS- 1. In a changeable controller forelectric signs, a multiple electric circuit system having lamps and asource of electric supply therein, the combination therewith of aplurality of contacts, a carriermounted for continuously travelingmovement near said 'holdingsaid brushes out of contact position.

2. In a changeable controller for electric signs, the combination withan electric conducting sign-board having connection with a. source ofcurrent, of a plurality of lamps electrically connected thereto andhaving electric connections leading therefrom, a current conducting mainframe electrically connected to a. source of current, a multiplicit y ofcontacts mounted on said frame but insulated therefrom and in connectionwith lamp connections, an endless carrier adapted to travel near saidcontacts, means to continuously move the carrier, a multiplicity ofbrushes mounted on the carrier and adapted for electrical contact withsaid contacts and electrically connected with the main frame, and meansfor selectively placing and holding the brushes in or out of contactposition.

3. In a changeable controller for electric signs, the combination with asignboard, of lamps thereon and electric connections leading thereto, amain frame electrically connected to a source of current, a multiplicityof contacts mounted on said frame but insulated therefrom and inconnection with I said lamp connections, an endless carrier leadingthereto, a current conducting main frame electrically connected to asource of current, a multiplicity of contacts mounted on said frame butinsulated therefrom and in connection with the said lamp connections, acarrier adapted to travel near said contacts, means to move saidcarrier, a plurality of casings mounted on the carrier and each havingin its upper portion a pair'of opposed bayonet jointed slots, justablymounted in each of said casings and each having-a 'stem provided with atransverse pin to operate in said slots, said brushes adapted forelectrical contact with a said contacts and electrically connected withthe main frame.

move said carrier, a plurality of casings 5. In a changeable controllerfor electric signs, the combination with an electric conductingsign-board having connectlon with a source of current, of a plurality oflamps electrically connected thereto and having electric connectionsleading therefrom, a current conducting main frameelectrically connectedto a source of current, a plurality of contacts mounted on said framebut insulated therefrom and in connection with said lamp connections, anendless carrier adapted to travel near said contacts, means to move-saidcarrier, a plurality of casings mounted on thecarrier and each having inits upper portion a pair of opposed bayonet jointed slots, aspring-actuated brush adj ustably mounted in each of said casings andeach having a stem provided with a transverse pin to operate in saidslots, said brushes adapted for electrical contact with said contactsand electrically connected through the carrier with the main frame.

6. In a changeable controller for electric signs, the combination with asign-board, of

lamps thereon and electric connections leading thereto, a currentconducting 'main frame electrically connected to a source ofcurrent, aplurality of contacts mounted on said frame but insulated therefrom andin connection with the said lamp connections,

an endless electricconducting carrier adapts ed to travel near saidcontacts, means to mounted on the carrier and each having in its upperportion a pair of opposed bayonet slots, a brush adjustably mounted ineach of said casings and each having a stem provided with a transversepin to operate in said slots and each stem having thereon an indicator,each of said casings having in its upper portion an opening throughwhich said indicator may be seen,

said brushes adapted for electrical contact with said contacts andelectrically connec'ted through the carrier With the main frame.

7. In a changeable controller for electr1c signs, the' combination witha signboard, .of lamps thereon and electric connections leading thereto,a current conducting main frame electrically connected to a source ofcurrent, a plurality of contacts mounted on said frame but insulatedtherefrom and in connection with the said lamp connectionsga carrieradapted to travel near nd a series of bars spaced apart chains unitingsaid chains transversely, a pluralty of' casings mounted on said barsand each having in its upper portion a pair of opsaid contacts. andhrfi1cluding a pair of v a brush adposed bayonet jointed slots, a brushadjustably mounted in each of said casings andeach having astem,provided with a transverse pin to operate in'said slots, saidbrushes adapted for electrical contact with said contacts andelectrically connected with the main frame through'the carrier.

8. In a changeable controller tric signs, the combination witha signforelecboard, of lamps thereon and electric connections leading thereto, acurrent conducting main frame electrically connected to a sourceofcurrent, a plurality of contacts mounted on said frame but insulatedtherefrom and in connection with the said lamp connections, a' carrieradapted to travel near saidfcontacts and including 'a pair of spacedapart chains and a series of bars uniting said chains transversely, aplurality of bars loosely connected at their ends to said chains andhaving means to restrict their rotary movement, means to move saidcarrier, a plurality ofcasings mounted on the carrier. and each havingin its upper portion a pair of opposed bayonet jointed slots, a

brush adjustably mounted 'in each of said casings and each having a stemprovided with a transverse pin to operate 1n said slots, said brushesadapted for electrical contact withsaid contacts and electricallyconnected with the mainframe through the carrier. SIEGFRIED HELD.

Witnesses: v a 4 Cine. 0. TILLMAN,\ A. S. Pmnniraa Y

